Interactions Between Civil Society and Formal Planning Institutions
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Developing Neighbourhood Management Capacity in Kobe, Japan: Interactions between civil society and formal planning institutions Patsy Healey Case study prepared for Planning Sustainable Cities: Global Report on Human Settlements 2009 Available from http://www.unhabitat.org/grhs/2009 Patsy Healey is professor emeritus in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at Newcastle University. She is a specialist in planning theory and the practice of planning and urban regeneration policies. She has undertaken research on how planning strategies work out in practice and on partnership forms of neighbourhood regeneration experiences. In recent years, she has been developing approaches to collaborative planning practices, linked to an institutionalist analysis of urban socio-spatial dynamics and urban governance. She has undertaken empirical work in the UK, in other European countries and in Latin America. Recent books include Collaborative Planning: shaping places in fragmented societies (1997, 2nd edition 2006) and Urban Complexity and Spatial Strategies (2007). She is Senior Editor of the Journal, Planning Theory and Practice. Comments may be sent to the author by e-mail: [email protected]. Disclaimer: This case study is published as submitted by the consultant, and it has not been edited by the United Nations. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or regarding its economic system or degree of development. The analysis, conclusions and recommendations of the report do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme or its Member States. Developing Neighbourhood Management Capacity in Kobe, Japan: Interactions between civil society and formal planning institutions Patsy Healey1 Introduction This case study focuses on how residents’ initiatives in the city of Kobe which evolved to promote better living conditions in neighbourhoods came to interact with, and helped to shape, developing municipal urban planning practices in a large urban area in Japan. This experience has been influential in the evolution of urban planning legislation and practice in the country in the late twentieth century and has also had some influence elsewhere in East Asia. The case study is organised as follows. The first section provides a background to Kobe’s urban development and the interaction between this and the development of urban policy and urban planning organisation and legislation in Japan and in Kobe itself since the 1950s. The second section provides an account of the development of local civil society activism in Kobe, and of an initiative in the Mano neighbourhood, which became an example of what are now known as machizukuri organisations. This account tells the story of early activism and protest, a developing relationship with the municipality as Kobe City Council itself acquired more formal planning powers from central government, the ‘testing’ of the institutional capacity created in this way when a major earthquake struck in 1995, and the situation in the city in the early 2000s. The conclusion draws out wider lessons for ways in which the capacity for effective institutions for managing urban development and change might be promoted. Background Kobe lies at the western end of Japan’s enormous central coastal urban belt, in the Kansai region which also includes Osaka and Kyoto.2 Kobe itself is a city of some 1.5 million people, situated around 30 minutes from Osaka to the east, and three hours by bullet train (Shinkansen) to Tokyo. Port and industrial areas fringe the coast, with mixed commercial and residential areas in and around the old urban core, and newer residential areas spreading up hillsides towards more mountainous areas to the north, with some suburban centres beyond the mountains (see Figures 1 and 2). Since the 1960s, the City Council has been vigorously developing its coastline, with major land reclamations to create islands for new harbour, industrial, commercial and residential uses. It has also encouraged the development of new settlements in its periphery. As a result, inner areas of the city tended to get neglected. These inner areas have also been very much affected by major transport works, such as the Hanshin Expressway and the bullet train. By 2007, Kobe was one of 17 cities in Japan designated to have a higher degree of municipal autonomy in policy areas, including social welfare, public health and urban planning. It is also located in an earthquake zone and suffered a very serious earthquake in 1995. The city population grew very rapidly throughout the twentieth century, from around 200,000 in 1900 to nearly 1.5 million today. Population levels recovered quickly from the disaster of the Second World War, and from the impact of the 1995 earthquake. Mostly this growth came 1. The author acknowledges the help and guidance of the following in developing this case study: Andre Sorensen, Carolyn Funck, Shun-ichi Watanabe, Kayo Murakami and Maki Ryu. 2. Kobe was one of the first Japanese cities to open up to Western trade in the later nineteenth century and is more cosmopolitan than many other cities in Japan. Developing Neighbourhood Case study prepared for the Management Capacity in Kobe, Japan Page 3 of 17 Global Report on Human Settlements 2009 Figure 1. Kobe, Japan Source: drawn by Kayo Murakami. from migration within Japan, but unusually for Japan, there is a considerable proportion of non-Japanese residents (around 3 per cent). Its economy was dominated by industrial and port-related activity, which still remains important. But, as elsewhere, there has been a major shift to the tertiary sector in recent years, creating demands for new kinds of buildings as well as problems of physical obsolescence of former industrial and harbour installations. The City Council has been very active in promoting city centre and waterfront re-development, and embarked on two major land reclamation projects, creating two new large islands, Port-island and Rokko-island. In terms of housing stock, just before the 1995 earthquake, around half was privately owned, around 14 per cent was rented from public or semi-public bodies, and 30 per cent was privately rented. But these patterns varied in different parts of the city. Private renting was particularly high in the inner-city neighbourhoods, which tended to be poorer, while private ownership was higher in the mountain and peripheral areas to the north (Hirayama, 2000). Japanese people place great value on the ownership of a piece of land, which, in a country plagued by earthquakes and fires, seems more stable than buildings. Land and property ownership arrangements can often be very complex, creating difficult challenges in situations where some kind of urban development is proposed.3 Japan has a tradition of strong national government. This was re-enforced in the twentieth century, which saw a massive expansion of the national government and the bureaucracies which served it. The state operated hierarchically, with lower levels of government (prefectures and municipalities) organised to ensure compliance with national directives and aims (Sorensen, 2002:157). This top-down system was disrupted after the disaster of Japan’s 3. Freehold ownership is possible, but there are also complex leasing, sub-leasing and rental arrangements. Developing Neighbourhood Case study prepared for the Management Capacity in Kobe, Japan Page 4 of 17 Global Report on Human Settlements 2009 Figure 2. The City of Kobe today Source: www.city.kobe.jp. military project in the Second World War and the subsequent US occupation, but came to be re-constituted from the 1950s. It proved an effective vehicle for the national project of rapid economic development, pursued especially by the promotion of industrial development and major infrastructure schemes across the country. It was this momentum which produced the major transport investments in Kobe, and encouraged the creation of the reclaimed islands in the harbour area. Later commentators have come to refer to Japan as the ‘development’ or ‘construction’ state, as the major construction interests which grew from this policy thrust came to have very strong connections to the major elites in the dominant Liberal Democratic Party (Sorensen, 2005). As this project gained momentum, the country, already highly urbanised, saw massive urbanisation and the growth of the enormous megalopolis that stretches from Tokyo in the east to Osaka and Kobe in the west. Some of this was in the form of planned settlements, as in the north of Kobe (Ishida, 2007; Sorensen, 2002), but much was in the form of sprawling suburbs enabled by very weak land use regulation. Kobe municipality also vigorously pursued its own physical development agenda, through land reclamation, waterfront reconfiguration and support for new settlements in the periphery. The ‘construction state’ was less interested in liveability or environmental consequences, urging citizens to put up with poor living conditions for the sake of the national project. Since the 1990s, however, and partly in response to this neglect, there have been strengthening moves to decentralise government and strengthen the role of municipalities (Sorensen, 2008). Much more attention is now given also to the role of civil society initiatives in urban development management, inspired especially by Kobe’s own experience after the 1995 earthquake (Shaw and Goda, 2004; Pekkanen, 2000). Kobe municipality has been energetic in promoting and taking advantage of these opportunities. Developing Neighbourhood Case study prepared for the Management Capacity in Kobe, Japan Page 5 of 17 Global Report on Human Settlements 2009 Box 1. Key legislation in the development of the Japanese planning system Before 1919: Customary regulations governing fire and earthquake protection.